


Good Little Girls

by notvelma



Series: The Howard Family [1]
Category: Original Work
Genre: F/M, Motorcycles, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-11
Updated: 2012-10-11
Packaged: 2017-11-16 03:09:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,651
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/534817
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notvelma/pseuds/notvelma
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Evan’s the bad boy biker, and Jen’s the cute, innocent bank teller. But Jen’s ready to show Evan that there’s more to her than that.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Good Little Girls

**Author's Note:**

> Also posted on my tumblr.

_Friday, May 4_

After Jennifer Howard pulled her car into her brother's driveway, she glanced at the clock on the dashboard, upset to see that it was already quarter past six. The dinner at Nick's house had been scheduled to start at six and now she was late, again. This was the third month in a row that she'd been late, and her brothers had been starting to tease her about it. Nick had implied that they'd start without her if she was late again, though she doubted that would happen. Now that Tommy was in prison, the family gatherings were smaller than they used to be; if they started without Jen, it would be a very small dinner. 

Sighing to herself, Jen turned off the car, grabbing her purse off the passenger seat and hoping her brothers would forgive her for being late again. She'd tried to get out of work early, but the bank had been swamped with last minute customers, and it had been just about six when she'd finally left the building. 

Jen got out of the car and locked the doors before she started to head up to the house. 

"Hey, Teach!" 

Upon hearing the familiar deep voice, Jen stopped on her way up the driveway. The nickname was one she hated, but she knew who was calling and she knew it was directed at her. When she turned around to where the voice had come from, she saw Evan Jones sitting on his motorcycle at the end of Nick's driveway. The bike was idling as Evan leaned on the handlebars, grinning at her. 

She loved the line of Evan's body and the way he stretched out on the bike as though he were posing for a magazine spread. Though he was smaller than Jen's older brothers, Evan was still a bear of a man at six foot, two inches tall; he was very sturdily built with tattoos covering both arms. Today, he wore blue jeans tucked into his biker boots and a black t-shirt that fit snug over his chest. There were women who claimed men looked sexiest when they were formally dressed, but Jen found that the casual outfit Evan wore was much more attractive in her mind. 

"You know, Evan," Jen said upon approaching him, "I've told you a hundred times that I'm not a teacher. I don't know why you still insist on calling me by that nickname." She tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear, feeling self-conscious about the way she was dressed. Because it had been warm today, she'd opted for a skirt instead of her usual khakis, and she felt a bit exposed with her bare legs on display.

Evan appeared to notice how exposed she was as well, his eyes traveling the length of her body, pausing on her legs. He seemed to like what he saw, judging by the grin on his face when his blue eyes finally met hers. He ran a hand over his close-shaved brown hair as he eyed her. "So what's my Goody Two-Shoes doing in this part of town today?" he asked, tilting his head questioningly. 

She didn't like particularly that nickname, either, but she knew that it was his way of teasing her. He was a tattooed, bad-boy biker, and she was a sweet and innocent good girl – at least that was how he seemed to see the two of them. Jen wasn't entirely sure what had led Evan to believe that she was so innocent and well-behaved, but she knew that she presented a fairly clean image to those who didn't know her as well as her family and her few friends did, so she couldn't really blame him. 

But if Evan knew what was going on inside her head every time she saw him on that bike, he might realize that she wasn't the good girl he thought her to be. She licked her lips and tried not to think about that, knowing that it would just make her flustered and nervous. 

"We're having a family dinner at Nick's," she said, as though Evan didn't already whose house was behind them. "It's kind of a thing we do every month." And she was late. Though she liked talking to Evan, she also knew that the longer she lingered out here, the more likely her brothers would be to bug her about it when she finally got inside. They were probably watching her through the window. 

With the bike still parked, Evan revved the engine a couple times, watching her. He seemed to realize her reluctance to remain outside with him. "What's the matter, sweetie? Don't you want me to take you for a ride?" The grin he flashed at her suggested that there might have been an alternate interpretation he was going for. "It'd probably be the best ride of your life," he added with a wink. 

Flustered, she found that she couldn't speak. Did he know how badly she wanted to say fuck the family dinner, and just climb on the back of the motorcycle with him, wrapping her arms around his body before they drove off into the sunset? She wanted to say yes to the implied part, too, and find out just how good he was with those hands, with his mouth... with everything. But she could not form the words. She couldn't tell him what she really wanted and she hated herself for it. 

"Yeah, that's what I thought," he said in that gravelly voice. He kicked the bike into gear and, winking at her, said, "Well, I bet a good little girl like you couldn't handle it anyway." Then he pulled back out onto the street and roared off down the road before she could say anything else. 

Jen watched him go, feeling a sense of regret at the missed opportunity. Why couldn't she just have said something to him? She wanted to go with him – surely her brothers would understand. She wanted to be that kind of girl who could just go on the motorcycle with him without even thinking twice, but she didn't have that kind of impulsiveness in her. 

Sighing and feeling frustrated with herself, Jen decided that it wasn't worth worrying about right now, not when she had her brothers to answer to. She locked her car and tucked her keys into her purse before she finally went inside. 

Her eldest brother, Nick was waiting for her in the front hall, his eyebrows raised and a smirk on his face as she entered. Sometimes Jen was surprised at how much Nick looked like their father. While all the Howard siblings had the same dark brown hair and blue eyes and generally resembled each other, Nick was practically the spitting image of Gordon Howard with the same chiseled jaw line, the same thick eyebrows and even the same strong nose. 

"Well, Jennifer," said Nick, sounding almost exactly like dad, too. "I see now why you were late today. You and Evan seemed pretty close out there," he teased, ruffling her hair with his big hands. Though Nick was the shortest of Jen's three brothers, he was still fairly large at six-foot-four. That was another trait they'd all gotten from their father; all the Howard men were built big. 

Moving away from his hand because she really didn't want her hair messed up, Jen said carefully, "Evan and I were just talking." She tried not to sound overly defensive, but she could already feel her face starting to turn red with embarrassment, giving her away. It was a side effect that happened whenever she got even slightly nervous about something, especially when it was related to her non-existent love life. There really wasn't even anything to be embarrassed about; nothing had happened between them.

"I guess that makes sense. You're not really Evan's type anyway," said Nick, shrugging. Then he shut the front door behind them, leading Jen toward the dining room where their brother Hank was waiting, along with Nick's wife and son.

Though Jen wanted to ask her brother just what the hell he meant by that, she couldn't bring herself to do it because she knew he'd just start picking on her about why she cared, and she really didn't think that talking to her brothers about her feelings toward this guy would end well for her anyway. "Yeah, you're probably right about that," she replied breezily, and left the conversation at that. They had a family dinner to get to and she didn't want the conversation to focus on her and Evan when there wasn't even anything there to talk about.

*

These days, being nice to people and refusing to use the f-word every couple sentences apparently meant you were a "good" person. Sometimes Jen felt as though she was being patronized for the way she acted – for blushing when somebody paid her a compliment, for saying "oh dear" instead of "dammit," for preferring to stay home with her dog and read a book instead of spending her time at a bar or whatever it was that extroverted people preferred to do.

On the other hand, she knew that there were parts of her inner life that weren't so innocent. Jen was lazy with chores, only doing them when she absolutely had to. There were times when her temper would get the best of her – especially dealing with rude customers at the bank or when her brothers did something to upset her. Her brothers knew what she could get like when she was in a bad mood, and it had been a joke around their house growing up that Jen turned into "Mrs. Hyde" when she was angry. 

Now, though, when it came to Evan Jones, Jen found that her mind frequently went into the gutter. She could barely control the lust – well, that among other feelings that she was afraid to name – she felt for the man. She wanted him to see that there was another part of her that was on the same page he was. She wanted him to know that she got his dirty jokes and double entendres and that she liked them. She wanted to tell him about the dirty thoughts she had about what they could do together. Most of all, she wanted to show him with body language how she truly felt. 

All she had to do was talk her good girl side into believing this was a good idea.

*

_Wednesday, May 9_

The next few days passed uneventfully and with no sighting of Evan, much to Jen's disappointment. She'd had to spend her weekend at home doing laundry even though what she really wanted to was drive into town and walk around in hopes of spotting Evan, because she knew that was where he would be, riding his bike and generally hanging around. The only reason she managed to keep herself at home was the fact that she'd run out of clean clothes for work and had to do laundry. 

The first few days back at work were also uneventful, and due to the rain, Jen knew she wasn't likely to see Evan riding his bike. Wednesday was bright and sunny, though, and her entire morning consisted of her trying to concentrate on work and customers when all she wanted to do was stand out front and wait for Evan to drive by. She managed to hold herself together until lunch time, though.

Rather than eating at the café for lunch as she normally did, Jen had planned to sit out front of the bank on the bench and enjoy the sun with the lunch she'd packed for herself. 

The main road in front of the bank was usually fairly slow this time of day, and with the nice weather, there were more people walking around – joggers, people walking their dogs or pushing strollers, everybody just enjoying what the day had to offer. She was surprised at how many people weren't at work, but she knew it was hard to be inside on such a nice day. 

Jen had finished her sandwich and was eating one of her chocolate chip cookies when she heard the familiar sound of a motorcycle engine coming up the street. Her heart stopped when she recognized Evan, even with his helmet covering up most of his head; she would know that body and that bike anywhere. For a moment, she thought he was going to drive right on by, but then he pulled his bike into the little path to the left of the benches and parked it there. 

Evan climbed off the bike, removing his helmet and hanging it over the handlebars. For a moment, she was struck by the way he looked, tall and strong and powerful, even dressed as casually as he was today – black jeans this time, paired with a plain gray t-shirt. He was almost like a model or an actor in a motorcycle advertisement, every beautiful inch of him too perfect to be real. 

Jen's heartbeat sped up as she realized that Evan was walking toward her. She did a quick check of her clothes, trying to act casual as she made sure she looked all right. She wondered if maybe it would have been better if she'd been wearing the skirt again; she remembered the way he'd looked at her legs and wished she could make him look at her that way again. She liked him admiring her that way; it made her feel a little bit naughty. 

"Hey, it's Little Miss Librarian!" he called out as he approached. "What's going on with my fair lady today?" Rather than sit down on the bench, he stood in front of it, putting one leg up and leaning on his leg to look down at her. "Ooh, cookies!" He was smiling again, and she wondered if he ever got upset about anything; he seemed to wear the cheeky grin like it was an accessory. On him, maybe it was.

"Would you like one?" she asked, holding out the little plastic baggie for him. She decided not to correct him on the 'librarian' remark, since she knew that he was aware she didn't work in a library, either. The nickname was just yet another way of him commenting on her squeaky-clean image. 

"Did you bake these yourself?" he asked, helping himself to one. He winked. "I bet you look so cute in your kitchen with your cute little apron, baking cookies." The look on his face suggested that he was thinking something dirty, but Jen could not imagine what could be sexy about baking.

She rolled her eyes. "I can't bake to save my life," she told him. "My brother made these for me." Her brother Hank was quite talented in the kitchen – a skill he'd picked up from their mother. The only skill Jen had gotten from her mother was her talent with numbers, something that made her an expert at her job but was otherwise fairly useless. 

The look that Evan gave her was hard to interpret, and she wondered if perhaps he would like her better if she did know how to bake. Maybe those were the kinds of girls that Evan liked – women that baked and wore aprons and liked cleaning. 

"You know, contrary to what you might think," she began, feeling her pulse quicken, "I'm not this Stepford housewife. I hate cleaning, I can't cook anything more complicated than pasta, and I am not a sweet innocent motherly type," she pointed out. "You should hear the names I call my dog when he wakes me up in the middle of the night."

Evan raised his eyebrows. "You have a dog? Funny, I would've seen you as a cat lady." 

"That's exactly what I'm saying, though!" she said, feeling her heart beat faster again, though this was less out of attraction and more with the slight thrill that she got from speaking her mind. "You already have this preconceived notion of who I am based on what you know about me, but the truth is that you really don't know me that much at all." But I want you to know me, she thought. She couldn't bring herself to say that out loud, already feeling like she'd said too much.

He took his foot off the bench and stood up straight, for a minute acting as though he didn't know what to do. He hooked his fingers into the belt loop of his pants as he looked at her. "I was just teasing," he said. "But you know, you haven't given me a chance to get to know you yet." 

She took a breath, trying to gather her thoughts. She didn't want to get angry with him because she wasn't angry. "I just wish you would call me my name and stop acting like I'm as pure as the driven snow just because I'm not –" and here she didn't know what to say. "I have to get back to work now." 

Confrontation was not her strong suit, and she hadn't wanted to turn this into some kind of angry argument. She stood up from the bench and brushed off her pants before she picked up the remains of her lunch, prepared to head back inside and calm down. 

"Hey," he said in a low voice, "Jen." 

And it was the first time she'd heard him say her name – her actual name and not just a stupid nickname that he'd thought up – so Jen found herself turning around to face him. 

She was surprised to see that the grin had left his face; he was serious about this. Maybe she'd been wrong about him. Maybe they had both been wrong about each other. 

"Jen," he said again. "I know there's more to you than just what you show me," he told her. His voice was quiet, his eyes fixed on hers. "And I want nothing more to know every part of you." He stepped forward – not close enough to touch, but close enough that Jen could see in his eyes the sincerity. 

Her chest ached. "I have to go back to work," she said again, voice strained. There was a part of her that wanted to spend the rest of the afternoon in his company, getting to know him inside and out, showing him the parts of her he'd never seen. 

But she couldn't bring herself to do that, and instead just walked back inside the building, holding her crumpled lunch bag in her hand. She tried to ignore the heaviness in her chest as she left him standing there. As she got back to work, she knew she'd made the wrong choice but didn't know how to fix it.

*

Jen spent the rest of her day at work mulling over the conversation with Evan and wondering what she could do to make things right between them. It had been stupid of her to walk away just when they had seemed to be getting somewhere. She wanted to apologize for that and let him know that she wanted nothing more than to get to know him – intimately.

Having made her decision, Jen knew that she couldn't wait much longer to talk to Evan or she'd lose her fortitude. The only problem was that she didn't know where to find him. She could wait outside the bank when her shift was over in hopes that he would drive by on his bike, but the chances of that were slim, especially since he'd already been in town today.

Instead, she sat in her car in the parking lot of the bank, watching the rest of her coworkers drive away. She waited until most of the cars had left before she took out her phone and called her brother. 

"No, I am not lending you any money, Jen, so don't even ask," said Nick when he answered the phone. Aside from being the oldest of the Howard siblings, Nick was also the richest – due to some wise investments he'd made and certainly not from the salary he got teaching high-school level mathematics – and he was used to his younger siblings asking him for loans. Jen, however, had only borrowed money from him once in her life, and she'd paid him back on schedule. 

"You're hilarious," Jen replied, rolling her eyes even though he couldn't see her. "Maybe I actually called because I wanted to talk to my favorite brother. Did you ever think of that?"

Nick chuckled. "Right, of course. What did you want?" 

"Do you still have Evan Jones's number lying around?" she asked, doing her best to sound casual.

It was Nick's fault she'd met Evan in the first place; Evan and his crew had been building a deck for Nick one summer a couple years ago, and Jen had come over to use the backyard pool while they were working. So the very first time Evan had seen her, she'd been sticky and sweaty and wearing a stupid one-piece bathing suit that looked like it was designed for someone her mother's age. The whole situation had been embarrassing, and she was honestly surprised that Evan still talked to her after that awkward first meeting. He must have seen something that interested him, though Jen had no idea what. 

"Yeah, I think so. Why?" her brother answered, drawing Jen's attention back to the task at hand.

"I just – have something I need to talk to him about," she said, deliberately remaining vague. This was not something she wanted to discuss with her big brother, especially not after the original conversation they'd had about Evan. _You're not his type, anyway._ She remembered that. 

Nick chuckled. "Oh Jen, I hope you know what you're getting into. Evan's a bit – intense, don't you think?" There was that protective big brother voice and it had Jen rolling her eyes. 

"I know what I'm getting into," she said. "Can we do this without the judging, please?" she asked him. "All I want is his phone number." 

There was a sigh from the other end of the line, and then a pause that went on for far too long. "Okay," he said calmly, though it sounded like he was trying to restrain himself. "I'll keep my mouth shut about it like a good big brother. You got a piece of paper handy?" 

After she wrote the number down, Jen was ready to end the conversation, but Nick stopped her before she could hang up the phone. 

"By the way, Jen, are you busy this weekend?" he asked. "Rita and I were kinda hoping to have a night off, and we were wondering if we could send Tristan over to stay with you on Saturday night?" 

Jen grinned, though her brother couldn't see her through the phone. "Oh, date night with the wife, huh? You finally getting laid?" she teased. 

"Wow, I wasn't aware that my sister was fourteen years old. My sex life is none of your business, Jennifer," he replied drily. "So is that a yes or a no to babysitting? If it's a no, I'm sure Uncle Hank would just love to take Tristan out in the squad car for an adventure. Those two would have a lot of fun." 

"Are you kidding me?" exclaimed Jen. "Don't even think about letting Hank watch Tristan! That poor kid is going to come home with missing limbs! He'll be much safer with me. We can order take out and rent a movie," she suggested. "I'd love to watch him." She liked spending time with her only nephew; Tristan was only eight, but he was at the age where he still thought his aunt was cool instead of a total dork like she kind of was. 

Nick laughed. "Thanks. And good luck with the Evan thing, okay? Let me know how it goes."

After they finally hung up, Jen took a deep breath in preparation for calling Evan. She tried not to think too much about it, knowing it would just make her nervous if she did. 

Finally, she dialed his number.

Evan answered the phone with a polite, "Hello?" and for a moment Jen wondered if she had called the wrong number, but then he said, "Evan Jones, Jericho Contracting and Construction. How can I help you today?" He sounded so professional, which was much different from the usual amused, teasing tone of voice that she was used to hearing. 

Cautiously, and perhaps a bit nervously, she said, "Evan? Hi, it's Jen." Then she added, "Jen Howard," just in case maybe he knew a lot of Jens and maybe didn't recognize her voice. She held her breath as she waited for his reply, her heart beating quickly.

"Jen, hi!" he said pleasantly. "Did you want to hire me for something? Did you need a new roof, maybe? I could build you a nice back deck if you wanted." 

She wasn't sure if he was serious or not, so she just answered with, "No thank you, but I'll be sure to keep you in mind if I need those things," she said. "I was calling to apologize about earlier," she began, trying to find the right words to tell Evan exactly how she felt inside. She'd never been great with words, not really, not the way other people could be. 

"Oh, no, look, the fault is mine. I shouldn't have been so pushy with you," Evan said, before Jen could get a chance to speak up. "And I didn't mean to hurt your feelings with that comment about the cookies." He exhaled. "I do want to get to know more of you, but only when you're ready for that." 

She swallowed nervously. "I do – I want us to spend more time together," she said. "I like you and I'm sorry that I left suddenly." She couldn't think of an excuse to give him because she really didn't have a good reason for walking away, except to say that she had been scared. She wasn't sure she wanted to admit to Evan how scared she'd been. 

For a moment, there was silence from both ends, and then, "does it bother you when I call you those nicknames or when I tease you about being a good girl?" he asked carefully. "I'm not trying to hurt your feelings or upset you. I'll stop if you want me to." He sounded sincere, too. 

"No!" Jen said, almost too quickly. "You don't have to stop. I like the nicknames, and I like that you think I'm a good person," she added, feeling herself blush as she said so. "I just want you to know that's not all that I am. I'm not perfect, and I'm not always right. And I'm terrible at chores," she added, ashamed to admit this part of her out loud. 

Evan laughed. "Oh, don't worry, Jen. Nobody's perfect, and I wouldn't expect you to be," he said. "I like seeing the nice part of you. I'm not trying to make fun of you or anything. I think you're sweet." There was another pause, and then he said, "But even if you are a good girl, I do want to give you a ride on my motorcycle. It will be a lot of fun," he added. She couldn't tell if his tone was serious or not, but she ached to say yes. "Of course, I understand if it's not your thing. Not everyone can handle something that powerful between their legs," he said breezily. "It can be a real handful sometimes."

This time Jen was really blushing at such a blatant innuendo. Was he flirting with her? Her entire body went hot at the thought, and for a moment, she could not bring herself to say anything in response. Then, by some push, she found her voice. "You might be surprised at what I can handle," she said boldly. She was a bit shocked at those words coming out of her mouth like that, but she was also pleased with herself for being able to come up with such a witty response, especially when it caused Evan to laugh again. She really liked the sound of his laughter. 

"Oh, really?" he said, sounding amused. "Well, Miss Howard, I will consider that challenge accepted. I'll have to take you up on that soon," he promised.

*

_Friday, May 11_

On Friday, Jen was the last one to leave work, so she walked out back to the parking lot alone.

What she saw parked next to her car almost made her drop her keys. There was Evan, leaning with one hand on the back of his motorcycle, holding a helmet in his other hand. There was a second helmet hanging off the handles of the idling bike. 

Evan smiled at her. "Well, pretty lady, what do you say? You want to go for a ride?"

Her heart was racing and thoughts were swirling in her head, but her mouth was way ahead of her brain. "Oh I would love to!" she said, and then clasped her hand over her mouth. She didn't want to sound overeager about it but she was just too excited to contain herself. 

Evan just laughed. "God, you are too cute sometimes, you know that?" 

She didn't know what to say to that. "Let me just, um, put my stuff in my car," she said. 

Jen felt a little awkward as Evan watched her, but she unlocked her car and put her purse underneath the front seat, hidden from view. After she made sure that everything was safe inside her car, she shut and locked the door, stuffing her car keys and cell phone into her pocket. Then she turned back to Evan, chest heavy with anticipation of what was to come. 

He smiled at her. "All set to go?" he asked. When she nodded, he handed her the helmet he'd been holding in his hands. "We have to protect that pretty head of yours," he said with a grin. "Don't want such a good citizen to break any laws, either." He watched her fit it over her head, stepping closer to help her with the strap when she struggled with it. 

When she was all set, he took a step back to look at her. "All you need is a leather jacket and a couple tattoos and you'd look like a genuine biker," he said. "You ready?" he asked again, as though he thought she would change her mind at the last minute. The idea of Evan being nervous about rejection was surprising, but Jen found it adorable; he was just as insecure about this as she was! 

"I'm ready," she told him, nodding. Her heart was pounding in her chest, but she was too excited to let herself be nervous. She wanted this too much to let anything get in the way.

"Now you're going to have to squeeze in close to me because my bike doesn't have a full-sized second seat," he told her. "I usually just ride by myself." He climbed into the bike and scooted forward, then put on his own helmet.

For a moment, Jen just took in the sight of him there on the bike, the angle of his body as he leaned forward, the way his jeans fit tight on his legs – even his black motorcycle boots were a part of the sexy look. Then she looked down at her own white sneakers and boring khakis. He must have been joking when he said she could pass for a biker. She just looked like a plain Jane next to him. 

Evan tilted his head at her. "Are you just going to stand there, or are you coming?" he asked teasingly. She couldn't really see his expression through the helmet but she could just imagine him smirking at her in his usual way. 

If she was going to change her mind, she'd have to do it now. Instead, she swung her leg over the bike and got on, scooting in close behind Evan so she could make herself comfortable on the leather seat. Then she tucked her arms around him. It felt strange for a moment, but then he kicked the bike into gear and she didn't have time to worry about the awkwardness of touching him, because they were off.

It was strange at first, being on the bike. It felt nothing like a car, with the rumble of the engine beneath them, the wind whipping around her, and of course the feel of Evan's broad, muscular back against her chest. She wanted to look at everything at once, but found there was too much. Jen felt the thrill of adventure fill her up, thrumming inside her and stirring her up. She knew immediately she would not be satisfied with this one motorcycle ride. No, she'd want this again and again. Evan didn't know what he'd gotten himself into, giving her a taste of this. 

They rode down busy main roads and then down winding back roads. Jen held tight to Evan and allowed herself to enjoy the rush that came with it. 

But it was over too soon, and they returned back to the parking lot of the bank as the sun was beginning to set. Evan parked the bike next to her car and turned it off.

Reluctantly, Jen climbed off, removing the helmet to hand it back to Evan. "Thanks for the ride," she told him. "That was really nice." _We'll have to do it again sometime._ But she didn't want to be greedy, so she didn't say it out loud. Instead, she watched as Evan took off his own helmet and got off the bike to stand up next to her.

He was close enough to touch, but Jen kept her hands by her side, nervous.

"I'm glad you enjoyed it," he said, and then he reached for her, taking her hand in his own as he closed the distance between them. "You think you'll want to give it another go?" 

She nodded, suddenly finding her eyes fixed on his mouth. She really wanted to know what it felt like to kiss him, and by the way he was looking at her, maybe he was thinking the same thing. Well, there was only one way to find out the answer to that. 

Before she could talk herself out of it, Jen took her free hand and put it on Evan's cheek and then pressed closer to him, tilting her face up toward his. 

Evan responded quickly, placing his hand on her waist as he closed the distance between them, pressing a gentle kiss to her lips – soft and sweet and romantic. When he tried to pull back, Jen just pulled him closer, coaxing his mouth open and deepening the kiss between them.

She could feel his heart beat in time with hers; she felt his fingers digging into her sides, his leg nudging between hers and his other hand still clutching hers tightly. 

This was what it all had been leading up to – every word he'd said to her, every interaction they'd had, every teasing comment, every glance – it was all for this moment, for the two of them here in the parking lot as the sun went down in the background. It was like a fairy tale.

When the kiss ended, Evan still didn't release her hand. He watched her for a moment before speaking. "That was worth the wait," he told her with a small smile. "Jen Howard, do you even realize how fucking perfect you are?" 

She blushed and licked her lips nervously. "I should probably go home," she said. 

Evan nodded and released her hand. "All right. That's cool." He rubbed the back of his neck as he watched her, looking like he had something he wanted to say. 

"Thank you for the ride, Evan," she said, feeling a silly grin on her face. She didn't want to leave just yet, but she didn't want to stand around here awkwardly, either. 

She dug her cars keys out of her pocket, resigning herself to the fact that she really had to get home. Brutus was probably waiting for his dinner. 

"Um, hey, wait a minute," called Evan, causing Jen to turn and look at him again. "Are you busy tomorrow?" Evan asked. "I thought maybe we could do lunch or something. I happen to be a pretty decent cook," he added with a wink. "You wouldn't have to do anything but enjoy it." 

Was he inviting her to his place? Jen had a pretty good idea of what he meant by that invite, and she wanted so badly to say yes. "I'm sorry," she said. "I'm supposed to be babysitting my nephew until Sunday." Never before had she had so much regret for doing a favor for Nick.

Evan nodded. "Well, I'm free Sunday. You wanna come over when you're done babysitting?" he asked. "I can cook dinner for the two of us and we can hang out and watch TV, or maybe find another way to entertain ourselves," he said with the biggest grin on his face.

Blushing, Jen said, "I think that sounds nice." Very nice. "Nick said he's going to pick Tristan up by four, so any time after that should be fine." Her mind was providing her with plenty of ideas about what they could do together at his house, and she very much liked every single one of those ideas.

"Well, all right. You can just call me when you're on your way over if you like, so I can make sure that I'm decent," he teased. Then he paused for a moment before saying, "You know, a funny thing happened the other day that I forgot to tell you about. Your brother came to visit me at work yesterday. He wanted to talk about you," he said.

"Oh my gosh, really?" Jen exclaimed, suddenly feeling more embarrassed than she had before. "Which brother? What did he say to you?" Her hands were shaking and she wiped them on her pants.

Shrugging, Evan seemed to be a lot less concerned about it than she was. "Uh, it was the cop. Hank, I think? He was in his uniform and he just gave me a speech about if I break your heart, he's going to make sure I pay. It would have been kind of a cute overprotective big brother act if he wasn't so big. He's what, like 6'5"?" Evan asked.

Jen found herself torn between embarrassment and rage. "Oh, I'll kill him," she said. "Oooh, I bet Nick told him and they talked about me. Oh, they're both going to pay," she growled.

"Hey," said Evan, putting his hand on her arm gently. "It's okay, Jen. They're just being big brothers. That's what brothers do, you know. Besides, I told your brother that I had no intention of hurting you. I'm good like that," he said, grinning.

It was hard to be angry with that smile on Evan's face, and Jen found herself smiling back at him, though her anger at her brothers wasn't completely gone. "I'll take your word for it, sir. But my brothers need to realize that I'm a big girl. I know how to take care of myself," she said.

"Oh, I bet you can, darling. Anyway, I'd better get headed home," said Evan, looking a little disappointed that he had to leave. "Have a good night, beautiful. Can't wait to see you again." 

Jen was still grinning as she got in her car and drove away. She couldn't wait to see him again, either, and perhaps get to work on her other fantasies that she had in mind for the two of them. Sunday couldn't come quickly enough.


End file.
